Inside the BRD: Official football playoff pairings - VHSL needs to shorten field to reduce the number of losing teams

The Virginia High School League released the official pairings for the first football playoffs since realignment. Even at first glance, one thing sticks out like a sore thumb: There are too many losing teams qualifying.

In the region with the most Bay Rivers District teams, Group 3A East, seven have losing records and another is 5-5. The 5A North has seven losing teams as well.

Hey, VHSL, how about cutting the fields to 12? That’s still way too many, but under that format you cut out many of the losing teams and still have a five-week playoff, with the top four seeds getting byes in the opening week while the other eight in each region play to face those top four seeds.

So, here are the official pairings for the six Bay Rivers District and five Peninsula District schools in the playoffs. Times and dates to be announced.